Hahli and Metabee elusive angel chronicles
by valecad10
Summary: Quickly our heroes are thrown into another dilemma as Metabee seems to still have some problems...or should I say Hahli? Due to an accident, the two switch bodies, and now have difficulty playing each other's roles. Plus another experiment is loose.
1. Trauma

Chronicles of the Elusive Angel (Vol. 4):

Protection

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 1: Trauma

Hahli slowly stirred; suddenly alert that she had fallen asleep. She also noticed that Metabee was absent in her arm; where she had been scratching his head and hearing his purr earlier. She glanced at the clock, she had only dozed off for ten minutes or so, though it felt like it was a whole night's sleep to her. An uneasy feeling of false jetlag overcame her, but she ignored it.

As she did every day, she hopped out of bed and walked into the closet, picking out what she wanted to wear; all of her dresses were gone, those were the first things to be depleted, and often the fastest. She opened the right closet door and found a full set of dayclouths-shorts and T-shirts-which may as well have collected dust. Moo-moo's were more her taste, she didn't know why, but she scarcely wore her 'emergency' clothes, unless she knew she would be going somewhere rough and dangerous, like Mt. Wialeale.

In moments she walked out of the closet in green shorts and purple shirt, running a hand through her hair to get it out of the back of her shirt. She slipped on her sandals that were on the floor near the elevator. There were a few pairs, all of the same style, some of different colors, but mostly ranging from blue to blank, a pair or two were pink. Again she avoided the thing she didn't like; the infected pink sandals that she somehow seemed to despise, and fumbled to find a matching pair of right and left foot.

With a sigh she pressed the button, she was purposely taking her time. Though it was dull and boring; things were too quiet. Though she knew it was good to have a time of silence every now and then, to her now was not the time. She suddenly just wanted to scream erratically and break something, or just run around and be less destructive. But the elevator seemed to be too quiet too, and the mass of the silence was like an epidemic; making all within its muteness-and even an extended three-mile radius-as quiet as and as tranquil as a mime-house.

The hum that Hahli felt surrounding her from all sides finally stopped as the elevator jolted to a halt and opened the doors on the opposite side behind her. Lazily, she turned around and walked through, though it took a few seconds for her to take the first step. She strode slowly, but consistently down the hallway, listening to the creaking below her feet on the soft wood floor; the scuffle of her sandals as her feet shuffled below her; the sun even seemed to have a noise as it shined through the window of her bedroon, giving the hall a sort of calm and tranquil ambiance.

The heat of the sun tingled her face as she passed the ray of light. She paused and faced the source of it, closing her eyes and taking a calm breath in. Her back thumped against the wall as her body felt the need to bask for a few seconds; the light felt rejuvenating. She hadn't actually seen her own sun since she got back sometime last night, she remembered falling asleep while flying, and that was it. Perhaps that's why she halted here, she missed the feeling of the sun's warmth loosening the pressure of her skin and blue armor, and relaxing her muscles as it seemed to relaxingly massage her.

She opened her yellow eyes, almost falling asleep again, and stood up straight, and made her way again at a faster pace then before. The house seemed abandoned; no one was visible in the living room as she walked down the stairs. But, to her relief, as she came level with the kitchen she saw Metabee sitting down at the table. His head with the KBT attennae was bent over his arms, his palms pressed against his mouthplate covered cheeks as he seemed to stare at something with great yet dull interest.

"Is anyone else up?" Hahli spoke, after waiting at the entrance for a few moments. Metabee hadn't even noticed her until she broke the silence. His faced turned to her.

"Naga nota." He said quietly. The sun casting through the window curtains passed his face, glimmering his eyes in Hahli's sight. She smiled.

"Want breakfast?"

"Mm...ok." He said, scooting the chair out. Even the wooden screech of the chair seemed quiet to Hahli in this dome of silent ambiance. Metabee hopped out of the chair and grabbed two bowls, while Hahli made her way to the cereal. He placed the bowls for her to pour as he got the sugar and the milk. Hahli carried the bowls to the table and went to the drawer to get spoons as Metabee poured the milk. She then placed a bit of sugar on each of their servings as Metabee put the milk into the fridge, and waited as he took his seat.

"What were you thinking about?" Hahli asked, after chewing a spoonful. "It seemed very important for you to not even hear me come down the stairs."

"Metabee thinking..." He began, swallowing his spoonful; a smile crossed his face. "About yesterday."

"What about it?" She munched.

"Lot's...Brass, Hahli saving Metabee...and Metabee's anger..." He lowered his voice on the last mentioned, as if he was ashamed for some reason. "Stitch doesn't understand though..."

"Understand?" Hahli asked rhetorically. He seemed to be slipping back in to a pondering state again.

"Naga understand anger." He said, thumping his head. "Naga remember." Hahli reached over and patted him.

"Maybe I can help." She said optimistically. Metabee took in a sigh. "Needs an explanation?" Hahli asked, translating what his sigh was saying.

"Eh." He responded.

"All ears." She smiled, putting her spoon down and laying her hands on the table. She almost wanted to play 'psychologist' and have Metabee lay down on the sofa, but she figured that would be too extreme.

"Metabee thinking back to Achie-baba Kino. Remembers everything, but remembers being angry vividly. Everything else is...blurry, with exception of anger." He paused. "Remembers how anger felt...Metabee didn't like, but had to use in order to get strong. Otherwise, not beat Achie-baba Kino." He turned in his chair and faced her, thinking of what else to say, he was half-thinking as he spoke. "Since Hahli made Metabee promise not to be angry, Metabee tries hard. Knows anger scares Hahli, but somehow always seems to happen...wasn't brought to Metabee's attention until Hahli and friends saved him from robots yesterday."

"Everyone gets a little angry now and then...and plus yesterday wasn't really anger, you were under Neo Mecha Sonic and Grezar's control. But...even though I was scared because you were frightening, I was more scared that I would lose you. That's what happens every time you get angry; you change and become viscous, like you're a different person. Whenever that happens, I just feel like I'm alone."

"Eh...that's why Metabee wants to stop anger...but doesn't know how." He sulked, slumping his shoulders. "Metabee doesn't want to scare Hahli anymore...wants to do things without anger. But Metabee already tried, when fighting 625...and it didn't work." Hahli looked empathetically at him.

"Let's go the beach." She said suddenly, hopping out of the chair.

"Huh?" Metabee looked at her curiously.

"I'm going to try and help you, but to do that, I need you to be cheerful. If you're not cheerful and yourself, I can't do anything." Metabee smiled. She was really intent on helping him, something in the tone of her voice said that she was, despite the attitude she said it with, being serious about the matter.

"Ok...kowa bunga!" He exclaimed, running to the door.

"Hey hold up! I got to get my swimsuit on first!" She shouted running up to the elevator. Metabee waited patiently, tapping his foot on the ground. A minute passed by...nothing. He check his wrist and pretended to look at the time. Another few moments passed. He began to smirk, amusing himself by pretending to be impatient, but soon it seemed like she had been gone for an eternity.

"Hahli!" He hollered.

"I'm coming I'm coming!" She panted down the stairs, carrying a pail with shovels and two towels. He opened the door and bowed as she bolted out. "Thankyouverymuch." She said as one word, as he paused for a moment and then followed her out the door.

"And there you have it." Said Commander Cody, tossing the white ball with gray numbers on it. "Cody-1, Little robot girl and the robot trog-0."

"I'm actually surprised." 625 said with convincing sarcasm. "You managed to catch a stationary ball that was completely harmless...and even though you still had a hard time getting it, it's a very commendable feat." Gantu smiled, not understanding he was being insulted. "I'd give you a merit but..."

"C'mon Metabee only a little farther!" Commander Cody heard Hahli's voice over the hill, and immediately froze.

"No...it can't be..." He gawked skeptically.

"Iga chookaba!" He heard the experiment's voice reply.

"625, hide, we'll ambush them!" Commander Cody ordered, and he shoved his companion into the bushes as Hahli and Metabee came into site.

"Beating me in a race will be an essential part in my plan to cheer you up, but I'm not going to make it easy on you-"

"Freeze!" Commander Cody ordered, jumping from behind the bush.

"Big dummy!" Hahli screamed, as she tried to turn around, skidding on the floor. Metabee tumbled over her and turned around, skidding on the floor. Quickly he sprang up, and helped his friend to her feet. "Metabee, Cody's here, we have to do something."

"Eh!" Metabee said turning around; the barrel of Commander Cody's blaster was aimed right at Metabee's green eyes, blocking the man's face from his view. Metabee moved more in front of Hahli and extended his other two wrist gun armed arms to help buffer her a bit more effectively should Cody fire.

"You're always getting in my way." Cody sneered, lowering the gun to gaze upon his quarry.

"Ju kaba choobita soupa!" Metabee retorted, as he gazed into Cody's eyes. "Miga arootaba...soku...chisi..." Metabee heard a high-pitched ringing in his head. His body suddenly turned to mush as he felt his heart pounding in his chest. The memory of being inside the holding cell while Commander Cody loomed over him flickered back vividly into his mind. A sharp and continuous throbbing pain started to boil on the right of Metabee's neck. He clasped the spot bare of yellow and white armor and tumbled to the floor.

"Metabee?" Hahli cried with sudden alarm. He curled up into a ball, breathing and crying with what seemed like utter suffering pain. A swell of panic came over her; she recalled when she had thought she heard Stitch just a few days ago. "Pasha...Hahli..." Echoed through her mind again as she saw Metabee writhe with horror on the ground. She lightly put a hand on him, he was burning to the touch, she could feel the blood rushing through his arteries, his body had snapped into some kind of overdrive-shock.

As if Commander Cody no longer existed to her, she picked Metabee up and hoisted him over her shoulder. A thing she was used to, and found she was doing it often. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew someone who would be able to figure out. She darted home as quickly as possible. Her destination: Eggman's room.


	2. ViseVersa

Protection

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 2: Vise-Versa

Hahli's lungs burned as she sprinted; her right hand flailed about to help her keep balanced as she carried the weary Metabee over her shoulder. Metabee had calmed down over the past few moments; his pulse and breathing returned to normal, he stopped quivering and he began move a little in her grasp.

"Metabee can walk..." He offered, his voice shaky and his words slow, and out of breath as if he had taken a dose of anesthesia.

"No you won't." Hahli snapped back, her pace slowing down as she spoke. She traveled at a jog, trying to get as much speed as she could back to the house. At first, Metabee sort of felt hurt by the tone she had taken; it was almost as if she was yelling at him for doing something wrong. As he thought about it though, he realized it sounded more like she was worried, rather then mean.

"Miga oketaka." He replied after a moment, not even realizing it had been almost a full minute since she had denied his request to walk on his own.

"It doesn't matter," she paused for a moment, seeing the house in the distance and picking up her pace, "how you feel," again she caught her breath, now running up the stairs to the front door and pushing it open, "we're going to Eggman," she then clambered up to the second floor, and turning to her right to jog the hallway, "just in case you might still be infected-EGGMAN!" She shouted, interrupting her own sentence as she slid on her sandals into his room. Eggman turned from the table where he was working and rushed toward Hahli as she fumbled to the ground.

"What is being wrong?" He said quickly.

"Metabee...he collapsed..." She spoke airily, her chest heaving in and out.

"Looks to be like you are about to be collapsing as well. Catch your breath, I will take 626." He then grabbed the little yellow KBT medabot in one hand and took him over to the bunk beds and laid him down. Eggman then proceeded to the closet wherein was a white coat, stethoscope, and other items he had for medical examinations. "Now, be telling what happened." He repeated, as he walked over to Metabee.

"Metabee and I were going to the beach, when we ran into Cody." Hahli spoke quickly; walking to the bunk beds and sitting on the end, still half catching her breath. "Then Metabee suddenly doubled over and started freaking out."

"By what means was he 'freaking out'?" Eggman asked, flashing a light into Metabee's optic. "What were the symptoms?"

"Well..." Hahli said ponderingly; her pulse returning to normal. "He started shivering, and sweating, like he had a fever. And his veins started growing huge, like a monster." She gripped a hand around her wrist to make her veins expand as well, to demonstrate what she was talking about. Jumba eyed her curiously, and then proceeded back to his examination; checking Metabee's horn and mouthplate.

"Very interesting...am wondering if this phenomenon was linked to something or if it was random."

"Is he going to be alright?" She asked with worriment.

"Nothing seems to be wrong anymore, am thinking it was just a minor problem but..." He scratched his chin, thinking to himself, then spoke after the small pause. "It seems similar to an effect that those cybeasts cause."

"What do you mean?" Hahli hopped off the bed and followed Eggman to his desk, where he popped open the computer. Hahli jumped up onto the table with her arms and looked in, levitating from the ground.

"You see," Eggman began, as the computer formed images to go along with what he was saying, "As you are already knowing, cybeasts are composed mostly of noradrenaline beast data. When first enter body cybeasts unleash this massive storage of the anger hormone, which is far too much, and far too sudden for the body to be used to. Symptoms of this overdose in noradrenaline beast data are similar to the symptoms you described 626 as having, when he laid eyes on Cody." Eggman shut the computer and turned back toward Metabee, to continue the examination.

"But then," Hahli said, grunting as she hit the ground, "why did Metabee have that reaction again?"

"Simply put...am having no idea." Eggman shrugged. "626 no longer has robots and cybeasts inside of him, something vaporized them from inside of him completely. I took blood sample and found nothing." Jumba pointed in the direction of his lab, a microscope was laid out, along with a veil, which contained a red-tinted liquid in it. "626 is fine, however, full examination shows nothing is being wrong. He should come around in the next hour or so." With that Jumba took out the stethoscope from his horn, and walked toward the closet.

Hahli walked over to Metabee and took his arm, checking for his pulse—a skill she had learned from Eggman. It was normal, and she smiled. "Maybe it was just..." She froze as she felt something. It was subtle, and unsettling, but barely there. It was like she heard and felt something, but wasn't quite sure. A moment later, it happened again, and continued for a few more moments.

"Everybody run!" Daffy shouted, bursting into the room. The rumble of the ground and the sound of heavy pounding suddenly made Hahli realize what it was she sensed. "Cody is coming!" A split second later, a large crackling noise was heard outside the home. Hahli tried to grab Metabee, but fell to the ground as a small tremor came at her. Eggman and Daffy were on the ground as well.

"Six-two-six!" Cody's voice boomed over the house, as his torso and shoulders was seen through the window of Eggman's room. The roof of the room shook violently as Commander Cody lifted it with little effort and peered into the room. For a second, everyone was silent. Then, as if without warning, everyone in the room was kinetic.

"Come on big dummy!" Eggman shouted, moving to the center of the room and raising a fist, trying to distract Commander Cody while Daffy took cover under the desk. Hahli looked around to see what she could use to help lure Cody away, but couldn't find anything.

"Where is the experiment?" Cody shouted, as if demanding an answer.

"You want experiment?" Eggman retorted back, almost threateningly. He ran toward a small table on which lied an experiment pod. "Take 055, is useless to us!" Eggman threw the small experiment pod at Cody, hitting him square in the forehead of the helmet.

"You're such a fool." Commander Cody snorted, catching the pod in his hand and throwing it back. Eggman leapt to the side, the pod smashed through the wood. "You try my patience."

"As if you had any-" Eggman began to joke, but immediately shouted with surprise and leapt to the side again as a bright ball of plasma smoked where he was just standing. "Sheesh! Touchy, touchy."

"He's got a blaster...what do I do...I got to do something!" Daffy said to himself, as he poked his head out from underneath the desk. Jumba dodged more shots, amazingly quick for a man his size, and started to tell something to Hahli. Daffy looked up on top of the table, trying to find something he could use. His search was rewarded as he found a small gun on the far right. Quickly he seized it and jumped out, pointing it at Cody.

"Little robot girl, take 626, get as far away as you can, we'll hold them off." Eggman shouted, dodging shot after shot from Cody, his knees began to quiver.

"Right!" Hahli shouted, grabbing onto Metabee's arm.

"Freeze Cody!" Eggman heard Daffy shout as the slender black feathered duck with a orange beak and a blue shirt with yellow shoulder plates, appeared to fabricate in front of him. Cody flinched back, but immediately aimed his blaster at Daffy. Eggman quickly glanced at what was in Daffy's hand and took action.

"No Daffy, do not be firing that gun!" He shouted, as Daffy's stubby, shivering finger pulled back on the trigger. Eggman lunged at Daffy and took hold of his wrist, twisting it behind his back as they both tumbled to the floor. As Daffy's hand hit the ground, his finger pressed the trigger. From the large, square gun, a purple stream emanated from its barrel.

"C'mon Metabee, move!" Hahli shouted, holding on to Metabee's right hand, trying to move him from off the bed. She heard Eggman shout at Daffy, telling him not to do something, but was far too concentrative on her task to hear what it was. She yanked Metabee off of the bed and he landed hard onto the floor. Hahli looked up, just in time to see a light purple beam come directly at her.

"Oh no..." Eggman said grimly, as the laser shot at Hahli and Metabee. It hit their robotic hands, before Hahli could pull away, and immediately the room was filled with her scream. She tumbled to the floor after an aura-the same color as the laser-surrounded the two of them for a split second.

Eggman squinted his goggled eyes, there was a lot to do and only a bit of time to do it in. He had to get rid of Cody first. Letting go of Daffy, he ran to his lab table and took up a syringe, loading it into a small dart gun, which he had used once before to try and sedate Metabee. Commander Cody was still laughing from the event that happened not ten seconds ago, until he heard Eggman's voice.

"Over here Cody." He spoke calmly. Commander Cody turned and readied his blaster. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Eggman said with a rising tone. "You know what's in this?" He motioned the dart gun. "I have read all about those robots that were inside of 626. It was very intriguing. So much, that I even went so far as to creating some of my own." Cody slouched his blaster, Eggman smiled. "If you don't want to face the side effects of it...which I know you may not be able to handle...then I suggest you leave us." A droplet of sweat trickled down Jumba's neck.

Commander Cody glanced around the room, trying to look for a way to stop Eggman without getting injected with the robots and cybeasts. Seeing no option, he lowered his gun completely and turned his back.

"This isn't over." He snarled, as he holstered his blaster and sprinted off, the tremors of his footsteps trailing behind him. Eggman relaxed his shoulders and threw the dart gun to the floor, his bluff had worked. Taking two deep breaths in, he then turned to Daffy, who was now getting up off the floor.

"And as for you." He said, slightly scolding. "How many times must I tell you never to touch my inventions if you don't know what they do!"

"But I did know what that does...it...it..."

"I'm not even sure of what it does, it was still in the experimental stages!"

"Well if you didn't have all of your evil genius inventions just lying around on desks, maybe I wouldn't have picked it up." Eggman closed his goggled eyes and clenched his fists, breathing out his pointy nose with rage. He then opened his eyes, and smiled.

"Now." He spoke, trying to focus. "Let us be seeing how little matoran girl and 626 are doing." He walked over to the two, and stopped a few feet away. Daffy turned.

"Oh no!" Daffy shouted, running to the duo. "Somebody dial those three numbers! We have an emergency!"

"Pah..." Eggman said, whipping his hand. "Is no emergency. Laser gun was harmless, only a class 2. If anything little matoran girl just fell over from fear."

"Oh yeah, well how come she looks-"

"She's fine. Just look, sleeping like baby." Eggman lifted her blue masked head, her breathing altered slightly from the change in angle, then returned to a normal pace. Daffy folded his black feathered arms for a moment then relaxed. "These two are always seeming to be sleeping." He said. "Let us be waking them up." Gently he shook Hahli's shoulders. "Hahli..." He said quietly. Hahli's yellow eyes opened, and she rolled over away from Jumba. He heard her yawn loudly as she scratched her blue masked head and lifted herself up to a sit.

"Gaba ichuta..." She said drowsily, opening her eyes. "Miga nopalu-"She paused, her yellow eyes opening wide and her mouth clenching. The hand scratching her head slowly stopped as if she'd lost thought of what she was saying. As Hahli kept the surprised and wondering look on her face, Metabee began to wake up as well.

"What happened...?" He groaned, sitting up and rubbing the bare spot on his neck. "I feel like I just slammed into the-"Metabee stopped in mid sentence as well. Both Hahli and Metabee dawned a surprised and wondering expression on their face, something wasn't right.

"What is being wrong?" Eggman asked, trying to figure out why they were looking so strange. Metabee began to stir; he extended his yellow wrist gun armed arm in front of him and with his other hand began to feel the yellow and white armor that covered all around it. Hahli put a hand to her blue mask covered face and then turned to face Metabee. They paused as their eyes met. They both had the eyes of a deer staring at headlights. "Hello?"

Both of them screamed loudly, Hahli's piercingly high and Metabee's gurglingly low. Eggman and Daffy fell backward as the two stood and began to panic. Hahli stared blankly at her black hands, as if surprised they were attached to her matoran body, and Metabee pulled at his horn. They both stared at each other again, and paused.

"What's going on?" Metabee said meekly.

"Naga nota..." Hahli replied.

"Can someone be explaining to me what's wrong?" Eggman demanded. Both of them looked at him and pointed to each other.

"Metabee is Hahli-" Hahli began loudly.

"And I'm him!" Metabee finished the statement, as loud as Hahli had started it.


	3. Chapter 3

Protection

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 3: Hydration

The sedentary ship thundered on the ground as Commander Cody pounded into the hull with a mixture of urgency and fear. 625 scurried into the room immediately, and was about to say something of an insulting nature when Commander Cody cut him off. 625 scowled, and followed the giant into the control room.

"Computer, open communication link to Neo Mecha Sonic." He ordered.

"Communication established." It replied calmly in monotone. The feed crackled as it cleared and revealed Neo Mecha Sonic diligently ticking away at a keyboard.

"Neo Mecha Sonic." Cody spoke a bit above casual decibels. The robot rodent seemed to turn around in half surprise. "626 is-"

"I know." He replied with fatigue. "626 is no longer under our control." The doctor seemed slightly out of it, his red optics were bloodshot and fighting to stay open, and his face proclaimed that his mind was wandering in and out of the hazy realm of sleep.

"How can this be though?" Cody asked, not lightning his tone. "I thought project AK was flawless at this point." The robot blue hedgehog on the screen gave out a sigh.

"That is what angers me." He said, resting a cheek on his claw. He seemed more tired than angry. "I still don't understand how 626 is able to revert back to normal or why."

"Well, I can't answer that, but it appears as though we have another problem on our hands." Neo Mecha Sonic widened his gaze a fraction, then let his opticlids droop down to normal.

"What would that be?" He spoke almost as if he was bored of the whole subject.

"It appears that Eggman has not only acquired knowledge of our project, but has also manufactured the basic form of the project." This time Neo Mecha Sonic's optics didn't droop back down to normal.

"No...no that is impossible..." He slammed a fist down at the keyboard; static shimmered through the monitor in reaction. "If he manages to comprehend the full extend of the AK project then we have no choice but to abort it."

"Understood, sir." Cody replied. "May I suggest an assault or incursion of the house to destroy all of their acquired technology?" Neo Mecha Sonic rubbed a hand against his metal chin, pondering the suggestion.

"No." He responded dryly. "It would be too soon. We must lay low...give them something to do...perhaps another experiment to capture, that should occupy them for long enough, maybe even two or three. Didn't you say that you caught one over the earth's dark cycle?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact I have it right here." Commander Cpdy extended a pod which he had salvaged from his pocket and displayed it number-side up for the rodent to examine.

"Good." He said, his posture returning to normal. "Find it's abilities and let it loose on the island, I don't care what it does, but make sure that you don't interfere with it. If those two see you, then our cover is blown."

"Understood, sir. Cody signing out." Without a word from the other end, the feed was cut, and static again consumed the screen.

"Connection terminated." The computer's voice chimed in. Commander Cody tossed the experiment once into the air, and walked toward the original containment orb wherein used to be all six hundred and twenty five pods. He examined the number on the pod. "Hm...599..." He keyed the number into the computer and it displayed all the available data. Gantu was quite pleased with its capabilities. "This will most definitely keep those two out of our hair for a good long time..." He spoke, as he immediately went to the facilities to execute its activiation.

"It's going to take me forever to get used to this..." Metabee (or rather Hahli) said, as he examined his white hands with claws against the ceiling of their room. Hahli, (or rather Metabee) paid only a fraction of her attention, for she was busy brushing her hair. It wasn't even noon yet, and already they'd been twisted by fate.

"Gaba ju tasha?" Hahli asked, still running the comb through her hair as if it was the greatest thing in the world.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Metabee exclaimed, not lifting his head. "I'm in your body, and you're in mine!" His voice began to rise with frustration. "I've got yellow armor, I've got claws, I've got a horn,I've got wings, and a tail—I'm not supposed to have a tail!"

"Eda...goobachaka?" Hahli again questioned, still half paying attention.

"No...it's not a problem. I mean...it would be better if I knew beforehand this was going to happen to us. At least then I'd-"He paused and abruptly opened his mouth wide, ejecting mucus through the nasal passages in the back of his throat and swallowing them with a nauseating groan. "...That...was the most amount of snot I have ever..." Stitch sat up while he spoke, and looked over at Hahli, who still brushed her hair. "What are you doing?" He asked, pointing out that Metabee (as Hahli) was taking a liking to such a girlish action.

"Uh..." Hahli said nervously, stopping her action immediately and looking at the brush in her hand, then darting her yellow eyes at Metabee, and back at the brush. "Nagaba." She said with a smile, trying to hind the brush behind her back. Metabee rolled his green optics and laid back down to look at the ceiling.

"I wish I could cope with this as well as you are." He grumbled. Hahli felt a bit sympathetic, laid the brush down, and calmly walked over and sat on the bed.

"Is strange for Metabee as well..." She confessed, thought it sounded odd, as it was Metabee talking to Hahli in his body using her voice. It just felt...eerie. "But," She continued, extending a hand to scratch Metabee's head. "Eggman will find way to fix us." Metabee closed his green optics and winced relaxingly at the petting gesture. Metabee, as Hahli, knew exactly where to pet, and when to pet it, and this spot above his mouhtplate center was where he liked it when he was feeling stressed.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." Metabee replied, his voice now less frantic. "Ok..." Metabee spoke as if he'd just realized something was disturbing. "I'm drawing the line at this," he backed away, "me petting myself on the head is just too weird!" Hahli looked off to the side, and then dropped her arm. "I hope Eggman can cure us...and soon." As if on cue, up came Eggman from the elevator and out he stepped into the top floor of the tower, with two pairs of eyes staring eagerly for his report. He flinched, not exactly expecting such an expectant welcome from the two, but then cleared his throat.

"Little matoran girl," he said to Metabee, "626," he turned to Hahli. "Am having good news...and am having bad news..." He paused, waiting for a rhetorical gesture from one of them, but there was none, so he was forced to continue. "I have determined that the cause of your switching of bodies was indeed, due to this." He displayed the small pistol-like device Daffy had threatened to use against Cody not ten minutes ago. "This was an experimental project I was working on, which was used before it should have been—used on the two of you.

"Apparently, there is an unknown variable in the laser that caused the switching of two bodies." He spoke explanatorily, but soon after he paused and a dour look dawned his face.

"And...the bad news?" Metabee asked, though not wanting to.

"Bad news being...I have no cure, and know way of knowing if this transformation is being permanent or not. There is chance it is, there is chance it isn't. But...I assure you I will not rest until I have found out a way to cure you both." He said optimistically, trying to cheer up the frowns that crossed the faces of the two-switched persons before him. "Am...being sorry." He apologized, hoping that that would make them feel a bit better, at the least.

"Oketaka." Hahli replied, lifting her head up.

"Until you do," Metabee chimed in, "we'll do our best to deal with it." A meek smile crossed them all as they tried to lift each other's spirits, and Eggman left the room to get to work immediately. Hahli and Metabee both let out a sigh and looked at each other. "We'll have to make do." He said.

"Eh." She replied.

"Now that I have freed you from your pod, I ask that you do a favor for me. I only hydrated you so that you could do one thing: distract two people for me. They live in a house not far from here, I want you to do what your programming tells you to do. They'll try to convert you, but don't listen to them. Also, you are not to start your real progress until later on today, they will be suspicious if you reveal yourself too soon."

Cody's words echoed once again through the mind of 599. The experiment reviewed, and re-reviewed the orders given, and applied them. Under the guise of a cloud-one of this particular experiment's many abilities-599 hovered over the island, careful to make sure that the black bottoms of the cumulonimbus's, ready to burst with rain at any moment, kept above its body to shield it from the sun.


End file.
